Why is Easter when Easter is?

Here's some help from anonymous source in an e-mail my mom sent to me about the date of Easter:

Easter this year is Sunday March 23 2008. Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover. This is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Based on the above Easter can only be one day earlier (March 22) than it will be this year, and falling on March 22 is pretty rare. This year Easter is the earliest any of us will ever see for the rest of our lives! and only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above) and none of us have ever of will ever see it a day earlier! Here are the facts: The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be in the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was in 1913. The next time it will be a day earlier (March 22) will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was in 1818.

Homeschooling in California

This article strikes closer to home for us now because of our involvement in our church's youth group. Many (most?) of the kids are homeschooled and this could strike quite a blow. Note especially the last quote that Dr. Mohler includes.

What's Right or What's Cool?

Justin Taylor posts an excerpt from Douglas Groothuis, pleading for Christians to wake up. Read it here.

The Found Ark?

Here's an interesting article at Time.com. Seems a bit of a stretch, but has lots of info I've never heard of before.

And here's a crazy video of a mass prank pulled at Grand Central Station.

March!

Some bits of information, staccato fashion:

• I've inspired someone!  Read my friend Eric's blog.
  

• Junior high basketball season is over.  I know I didn't blog about it, so let me fill you in on some season highlights.  We finished 3-9 on the year, and missed the CALOC playoffs.  Our team had only two returning players and a whole lot of short, scrawny seventh graders.  It's true that we weren't as talented a team as last year's, but I really saw marked improvement among the players individually and as a team.  A few minutes ago, one of the seventh graders returned his jersey to me and I made sure to encourage him to keep playing, to keep working hard because I saw so much improvement in him this year.  It was hard being on the losing side so many times, especially when all of our losses but one were by ten or more points.  I learned many lessons this year as a coach, most of them having to do with patience, perseverance, attitude and perspective.  It was good season and I'm reminded how much I love coaching by the fact that as I'm typing this I would usually have been on my way over to the court to start practice.
  

• For those of you who don't know, at the end of January I was accepted into the M.Div. program of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University.  I have sensed the Lord calling me into pastoral ministry and this was and is being confirmed by many different circumstances, conversations (with Amy, my pastors, friends, family) and prayer.  Lord willing, I will enroll in classes in the fall and Amy and I are tentatively planning for it take me four years.  It is a long, grueling program, requiring more units than a JD (law degree) or MD.  Since then, I have begun teaching our church's mid-week service - Reality Check - every second Tuesday of the month.  Amy and I continue to wait on the Lord for his leading in many different ways.  We have decided that I need to work part-time, so I can focus enough time on studying, writing papers, increasing ministry loads at church, etc.  Please pray that we would be patient and peaceful as we wait for God to show us how he will provide for us financially.  I do not know if I will continue at Liberty Christian, but I have told my boss that I would love to come back next year and teach Bible and PE and whatever else he needs until about noon every day.

• Last, the Lakers are playing amazing ball right now, and I can't wait for April and the playoffs!
  

Over-diagnosis?

I'm sure glad I wasn't drugged!

Indy 4

Go here to watch the new teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!

Super Tuesday

Don't forget to vote today! I thought it would be fun to have all the many, many readers of this blog leave a comment stating who they voted for and one or two sentences on why. Let's see if we can get some good discussion and maybe ten or so comments by Wednesday or Thursday.

2007 Reading

I have failed. A year after first accomplishing my goal to read at least 50 books a year, 2007 was a failure, as was 2005. Ah well, 2008's off to a great start! Look through the list and tell me what you think!

1. The Testament by John Grisham
2. The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway
3. Tempest by Troy Denning
4. Pursuing Holiness in the Lord by Jonathan Edwards
5. What Jesus Demands From the World by John Piper
6. Love That Lasts by Gary and Betsy Ricucci
7. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
8. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
9. Whale Done: The Power of Positive Relationships by Ken Blanchard
10. Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
11. The Last Christian Generation by Josh McDowell
12. Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene
13. Exile by Aaron Allston
14. Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel by Eugene Merrill
15. The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels by Thomas Cahill
16. Dawn by Elie Wiesel
17. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
18. Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible by Wayne Stiles
19. Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A’s Big Three by Mychal Urban
20. Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World by Justing Marozzi
21. Humility by Andrew Murray
22. Prague Counterpoint by Bodie Thoene
23. The Summons by John Grisham
24. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
25. God’s Passion For His Glory by John Piper
26. The Legacy Of Sovereign Joy by John Piper
27. Moneyball by Michael Lewis
28. A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin
29. Allegiance by Timothy Zahn
30. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
31. The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis
32. Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible by Jay Adams
33. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
34. Preaching the Cross by Mark Dever, et al.
35. Munich Signature by Bodie Thoene
36. Searching For God Knows What by Don Miller
37. The Giver by Lois Lowry
38. Let The Nations Be Glad! By John Piper
39. Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
40. Inferno by Troy Denning
41. The Assassins by Bernard Lewis
42. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor
43. Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
44. A Murder of Quality by John Le Carre
45. Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God by C.J. Mahaney
46. The Parables by Gary Inrig
47. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Non-Fiction - 29
Fiction - 18

Muslims and Christians

I wish I had more time to comment on this, but John Piper has a good nine-minute video on the recent developments involving a paper written to American Christians by "138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals," entitled "A Common Word Between Us and You." It is also discusses the reply from American Christian theologians, scholars and pastors entitled "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You."

Dr. Mohler also talked about this on his radio program on December 12, 2007. You can listen to his response here.

The main point is, do Muslims and Christians (we could extend this to Jews if it applied to this specific occasion) believe in the same God? The answer must be an emphatic NO, as you will see in the video. Christians must be careful, however, not be unloving in how this answer is phrased, and I think Dr. Piper does a good job of expressing this.